


a sky of glass

by Yuesya



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Marine!OC, More tags will be added later, Some CP9 involvement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-19 15:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4750829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuesya/pseuds/Yuesya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fleet Admiral Sengoku is a busy, busy man, which is how his old friend Garp comes to have a heavy hand in raising his granddaughter. This is Ritsu: playful, whimsical, mischievous under the public eye –but nonetheless an upstanding Marine who does her grandfather proud. [SI/OC, Marine!OC]</p>
            </blockquote>





	a sky of glass

.

.

Senritsu is the sole grandchild of Sengoku the Buddha, Fleet Admiral of the Marines. The little girl is born on a warm summer day when the noon sun shines high in the cloudless sky, bright and merry. She is born with laughter on the breeze –that is, the laughter of ruthless pirates gripping knives that run red with blood; their laughter is carried clearly upon the wild sea breeze as they kill and kill and _kill._

Screams. Fire. Blood.

There is a hazy image of it all imprinted deep into the recesses of her then-infantile mind, one that she will remember for years and years to come.

Curiously enough, she does not remember the face of her mother, the first person she sees in this world, who croons sweet nothings to her like she is a precious treasure that means the world and more. She does not remember the face of her father, the first person to hold her in this world, who cradles her close to his chest as he cuts a bloody swathe through the fleet of pirates blocking their path, trying to trap and kill the weakened Admiral and the village that is his home. She does not remember the face of her uncle, the first person who presses warm fingers to her cheek to wipe off the pirate blood splattered onto her face, who smiles with relief as he says, _"Brother, your daughter is still alive–"_

What she does remember is this:

Bright sun, noontime sky. Screams, fire, blood. Sea breeze.

Laughter.

It is the laughter of the pirates in the midst of their mindless killing that stands out starkly amongst all that she remembers. And sometimes, sometimes she cannot help but regret not remembering anything else of that day, but–

But honestly, it does not matter.

She does not mean to sound ungrateful –she knows what death is like. For lifting her up out of the recesses of death and back to the wheel of life, she is thankful; truly thankful to her birth parents of this world. In regards to family, however… well. One cannot miss what has never truly been there in the first place, anyways, and…

Ritsu _does_ have her family in this world.

Granted, it turns out to be a rather ragtag, unconventional family scattered here and there, strange and eccentric and _weird,_ but nonetheless it's a family of people she loves and is loved by. It's a family that she will do anything to protect, to prevent from being taken away from her like the family she never had a chance to know.

(And that's enough, she thinks. More than enough, more than someone like her ever deserves, and because she is selfish she will always hold these precious people close to her heart.)

.

.

Grandfather is Sengoku, Fleet Admiral of the Marines.

The part of Ritsu that is the three year-old child she appears to be on the surface stubbornly crosses her arms and pouts because, as impressive as the title is and as strong as Grandfather must be to be even capable of holding the title in the first place, being the Fleet Admiral means that Grandfather is always _busy._ Other children in Marineford get to be with their parents –which is impossible in Ritsu's case since her parents are dead– and if not their parents, then it's their grandparents who come in to take care of them. Whenever she sees a happy family walking down the streets, smiling and grinning broadly amongst themselves, it's undeniable that Ritsu longs for it as well.

Ritsu's caretakers change constantly. Almost all of them are Marines –as Sengoku himself is always preoccupied with other matters, he generally leaves it to his subordinates to watch his granddaughter for him whenever he cannot spare the time, which is practically always. But his subordinates have their own families to care for during their downtime as well; so more often than not, Ritsu always ends up sitting by herself in an empty room, waiting for her next caretaker to come, and it's… very, very lonely.

There's no helping it, though, not with Sengoku being who he is and her parents dead on the day she had been born.

The part of Ritsu that isn't the simpleminded four year-old wanting to be with Grandfather all the time is sharp enough to realize that it's not that her grandfather doesn't want her. But held up against the torch that is his duty as the Fleet Admiral of the Marines, the mere wisp of a candle that is a young three year-old granddaughter cannot even hope to compare. Even if she doesn't quite like it, she can understand, and it's not as if he doesn't try to make time for her whenever he can. She should be satisfied enough with the way things are…

It's not until her fourth birthday that everything changes.

Sengoku finishes his paperwork earlier than usual that day, and returns home to see one of the new office assistants standing in the kitchen. The sight would be nothing new –if not for the fact that the man was holding a kitchen knife in one hand and his granddaughter in the other.

(Though more than a little traumatizing for young Ritsu to witness Grandfather promptly deal out a brutal beat-down like that, stopping only when the infiltrator was just shy of stepping through death's door, it _did_ show just how clearly her Grandfather cared for her, which was truly, truly heartwarming.)

And so the day after her birthday, this happens:

"Can you teach me how to protect myself?" Ritsu asks her next Marine caretaker. The young man blinks, before sitting down next to her and carefully explaining how Marineford is literally the city of Marines, and one of the most well-protected places in the world, ever –danger is always kept to an absolute minimum and she herself is the granddaughter of the Fleet Admiral; the incident yesterday is simply an anomaly to this and will never happen again. And really, who would be stupid enough to try to hurt her? She will be perfectly safe here, don't worry–

Ritsu shakes her head.

"Wanna be strong," she tries next. It doesn't work. The young Marine starts talking about how sheer brute strength is useless, and it's empty to want to be strong for the sake of being strong. That sort of power is useless in the end; what does it matter if someone can punch through walls and shatter stone? Without a purpose to temper strength, nothing will amount of it but chaos and destruction, just like _pirates._ She is only a little girl, she shouldn't be thinking about things like this. Was yesterday really so scary for her? Don't be scared, it honestly won't happen again. After all, it is the job of the Marines to protect the people so don't worry, she will be protected–

"But I wanna be strong like Grandfather. One day, I want to protect people, too. Just like how Grandfather protected me… But if I can't even protect myself, then how can I protect anyone else?"

The Marine pauses, blinking disconcertedly as he looks down at the little girl.

And then he smiles.

.

.

Laughter bubbles from Ritsu's throat when she is beaten down into the ground, when her vision is hazed red from blood dripping into her eyes; her own blood, left from an attempt to rub dirt out of her eye with the back of a bleeding hand. Everything aches so very terribly and burns all over, but she smiles and laughs into the darkness of the underground room. She smiles and laughs because her only other option would be to cry, and crying means showing weakness.

Here, those who are weak will be culled –granddaughter of the Fleet Admiral or not.

(And even though it hurts horribly, she knows that this brutal training will only make her stronger in the end. It is this thought that gives new strength to the part of Ritsu that isn't a sniveling young child wailing for Grandfather to come sweeping in to save the day; she doesn't want this. _She doesn't want to do this anymore but she doesn't know what to do doesn't know what to do._

 _… Someone, please, save her._ )

"Get up."

Ritsu squares her shoulders and stands up from the ground again, even though she can barely see what's in front of her anymore. Dark spots dance in the corner of her vision as she staggers, but she forcibly pulls herself upright and raises herself into the basic combat stance.

"Again," rumbles the burly man standing across from her, nothing in his tone even remotely hinting at his approval. Because even though she is clearly the youngest child in this room, only a mere four years of age while others look to be around the range of six or seven at the very least, there is no hint that he will loosen his standards for her. Which is fine, really.

It's fine.

Nothing matters.

She just needs to be strong for Grandfather.

.

.

Seasons pass, years change.

Sometimes, it's hard to mark the exact passage of time.

It's definitely been a long, _long_ time since Ritsu last remembers having seen her dearest grandfather, but she is sure that the old man is doing fine. As much as she misses him and would very much like to see him again, she knows that she is probably better off worrying about herself for the moment, as usual.

"You're distracted again, Ritsu."

"So I am," she laughs. Laughs, and is bodily flung backwards by a long, sweeping kick from the older boy she is sparring with. The wall behind her back crumbles and gives away the moment she crashes into it, which only spurs her to smile harder in face of the new influx of pain. What had began in the beginning as a method to stop herself from showing weakness to others is starting to become habit now –and idly, Ritsu wonders what a sight she must make; a little girl laughing in face of her own blood.

Across from her, the young boy –teen, really– huffs and lowers his leg, straightening the top hat perched upon his head as he strides over to her. A white pigeon coos softly overhead, circling down to land on the boy's shoulder with a soft ruffle of snowy feathers as he approaches her.

"Any particular reason why?"

She tilts her head, still smiling. "No, not really."

The boy leans down to pull Ritsu to her feet again, a movement done more out of courtesy and habit than any real concern for the bleeding girl. And, despite having crashed straight through a solid wall the way she did, there is no other sign on Ritsu's body other than a scattering of light bruising on her back.

"… Your _tekkai_ has improved," the boy mutters after a short pause, stepping back after checking her wounds.

"Eh, don't bother trying to say anything; compliments don't suit you," Ritsu's voice is light and teasing, which makes her companion's eyes narrow ever so slightly. "What? It's the truth. No need to glare at me like that–"

"Enough."

It's a different voice that interjects between them now, and both children immediately snap to attention at the man who approaches them.

"If you are finally done sparring now, I have been directed to give the two of you a dual assignment. Come… Ritsu, Lucci."

.

.

Their assignment turns out to be a directive to remove the danger to a certain kingdom besieged by pirates. A pirate had set his eyes upon the throne, and managed to take five hundred of the kingdom's soldiers captive to hold as ransom against the royal family. Five hundred hostages –not an insignificant number to consider.

Ritsu turns to the older boy crouched next to her, "What do you think, Lucci?"

There is something dark in the young teen's eyes, as a slow smile steals its way across his lips.

_"… Useless."_

She blinks, "Excuse me?"

Lucci stands up.

"Useless, the whole lot of them." His only comment is short and brief before he turns and begins to walk away. "We're going to be doing a lot of cleanup tomorrow, Ritsu. Get ready."

The younger girl frowns lightly at his retreating figure.

'Cleanup.' She isn't sure what to think of the careless way he says it, as if the lives of five hundred soldiers dedicated to protecting their kingdom amounts to nothing but trash needing cleanup if they are weak. But then again, being weak _is_ a form of uselessness –and hadn't her own weakness been what spurred her to seek strength in the first place?

_("I wanna be strong like Grandfather.")_

And… and she had been explicitly ordered to follow Lucci's lead in this assignment, to do as the older boy commanded.

_("One day, I want to protect people, too. Just like how Grandfather protected me.")_

"Ritsu?"

The little girl bites her lip, and scrambles to follow. Hesitation melts away into another smile on her face by the time she falls in step with the older boy again, and if her smile happens to be a touch more strained than what a natural smile looks like, neither of the children say anything.

They do not need to say anything.

Ritsu very rarely trains with the other children –most of the time, it's always either her sparring against older instructors or against Lucci, so while the two are not _friends,_ they are more familiar with each other than any of the other children in their group.

It's this very familiarity Ritsu has developed with Lucci that prevents her from getting caught in the older boy's rampage when they finally go in for the kill. When they sneak into where the pirates are holding five hundred soldiers hostage, and begin killing, killing, killing–

It's a slaughter.

… There is no other way to describe it.

To say that it's a battle implies that there is struggle. And while there certainly _is_ struggle here, it never lasts long –not under the ferocious onslaught of Lucci's iron fists splattering blood and gore all over the place, not against the clean slip of a silent knife between the ribs from Ritsu's hands whenever Lucci misses. They work in cordial tandem together, swiftly felling men who are easily twice to thrice their age and more, never skipping a beat to the melody of the macabre dance they dance till sunrise.

And by the time the sun finally peeks over the horizon in a misty red blur, every last one of their targets are dead.

Ritsu is smiling.

Because if she doesn't keep on smiling, she thinks she'll start screaming, and so she smiles. Even though the fighting is over and done with now, whenever she blinks she can still see the same images flashing before her eyes –a man's head being brutally snapped off his neck when Lucci reaches out with clawed hands and _twists,_ the shrill scream of horror in sightless eyes when the young boy kicks out and another man's ribs cave in–

And it's not just Lucci; she knows that she herself is just as responsible for this carnage as well. The sensation of shoving a fingertip directly into a man's skull is something she will never forget, nor that clear snap of bone breaking before her finger shoves itself into the soft, vulnerable flesh hidden underneath. Digging her knife into a man's neck, slicing it open and making blood splatter everywhere, everywhere, everywhere–

Lucci's hands are trembling slightly when he roughly jams them into his pockets. Although, whether it's because he is finally reeling from the aftermath of the massacre like Ritsu is or if it's simply leftover excitement from the thrill of the slaughter –there's a fairly equal chance for both, though when Rob Lucci is the one in question, the latter seems much more likely an option than the former.

When the Marines arrive on the scene, this is what they see: a young boy and a little girl, standing together atop a field of corpses. They are splattered head to toe with blood and grime and bits and pieces of god-knows-what-else; the ragged wounds crisscrossing the boy's back make him seem like a malevolent demon straight from the depths of the dark underworld, lips curled back in a sharp grin, while the little girl cocks her head at them and openly _smiles._

It scares the hell out of them.

(It scares the hell out of Ritsu, too.)

.

.

This is the turning point, she realizes.

It's scary as hell –in a manner completely different from slaughtering over five hundred men through the course of a single night, mind you– and Ritsu finds herself at a loss as for what to do for the first time in… years, really. Then again, for all these years, there had always been her trainers, her superiors telling her what to do and how to do and when to do whatever task needed to be accomplished; she hadn't made a choice fully of her own free volition in years, and this realization now, it… it scares her as well.

Across from her, Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp leans back in his seat and exhales lowly.

"When I was asked to pick up a pair of CP9 brats on my way back to Headquarters, I didn't think you'd be one of them."

When she had learned that she and Lucci would be hitching a ride on a Marine ship back to Headquarters, she hadn't expected Vice Admiral Garp to be the captain commanding the vessel. She says this aloud, and the old man laughs.

"I'll give you that," he concedes with a broad grin, but there is something else tempering his good cheer. "… When I asked Sengoku where he hid his darling little granddaughter, he told me he just pulled a few strings to put her with the Cipher Pol. Because we all know that the Cipher Pol deals primarily with intel and there's a low risk of danger for those involved, right? … He probably just focused on the fact that being in the Cipher Pol would help you erase your tracks and make it harder for anyone to track you down… Does he even realize that you're currently with _CP9?"_

She hesitates in answering for a moment. Because… Because even though she hadn't thought about it before, it makes _sense._ Now casting her mind back to moments with Grandfather so _long_ ago and how he had acted around her… considering how she hadn't let any information about CP9 slip past her lips, because the word 'CP9' was practically synonymous with 'secrecy'…

Her silence in and of itself is answer enough.

(If Grandfather had wanted her to be _safe_ instead of _strong_ like she had always assumed… if he had meant to place her into one of the normal Cipher Pol divisions instead of the combat-oriented Cipher Pol 9, where she had ended up in…

That…)

"How long has it been since you last saw your grandfather, Senritsu?"

"Ritsu," she corrects without much thought. "And… I'm not sure, Vice Admiral. It's been… a long, long time."

The man automatically makes a face, "That's 'Gramps' to you, young missy. Sengoku hasn't tried to come visit you?"

"… Grandpa, then. And I… really don't know, if he still…" Ritsu looks down at the ground. "… How is Grandfather these days?"

"Fine, if a bit upset that he hasn't managed to contact his granddaughter at all in the last month."

Ritsu opens her mouth to ask 'what contact,' because she most certainly does not remember writing letters to anyone, never mind sending anything to Grandfather –things like that, _attachments,_ are not allowed to exist in CP9. But the instinctive reaction drilled into her by her trainers regarding CP9 secrecy kicks in at this point and she snaps her mouth shut –not quickly enough, though, not if the look Vice Admiral Garp gives her is anything to go by.

The man scowls.

"Those _bastards."_

And here comes the crux of the issue again, the turning point–

"Ritsu, wanna come back to Marineford?"

She's not _stupid._ Obviously, there has been a lot of maneuvering going on to put her in the combat-oriented CP9 without Grandfather's knowledge. CP9, the division whose members were generally regarded as the last of last resorts, sent into the field only to kill and kill and kill. Someone had been purposely doing the exact opposite of what Grandfather wanted for her when he originally placed her with the Cipher Pol in the first place. Most likely, Grandfather had simply wanted her to be able to learn at her own pace in a relatively safe environment, hidden from the eyes of the world, but CP9…

…

… The thought of someone being able to outmaneuver Grandfather like this without alerting him at all is, quite frankly, frightening. After all, Grandfather is Sengoku the Buddha, Fleet Admiral of the Marines. To be able to do this… would imply that it's someone else even higher up in the chain of command pulling the strings.

Ritsu doesn't want to be ensnared like this, caught in a trap where she is naught but a chess piece upon the game board.

If she leaves, though –what if, what if whoever is pulling the strings right now in CP9 starts openly messing with the Marines instead, starts making trouble for and poses a danger to Grandfather? Her entire reason for even wanting to become strong in the first place is for Grandfather, what–

"Don't be scared to make a choice, Ritsu." Vice Admiral Garp's voice is a low rumble across from her, and something catches in the little girl's throat. "If you honestly wish to stay in the CP9, I won't force you to leave. But if you are held here against your will when you aren't even supposed to be here in the first place, then this is your chance to be free. Don't think about anything else –Sengoku isn't so weak as to stand by listlessly while his granddaughter suffers, and I will not stand for this, either."

"… Why?" she asks hoarsely, and it's all she can manage to say aloud in this moment.

_You're not my grandfather. We're not related by blood. Why are you doing this for me? Why are you offering me a way out? Why are you helping me?_

…

For the first time in five years, Ritsu cries.

Not dainty, delicate tears –these tears of hers are big fat crocodile tears streaming down her face as she struggles to keep her composure, which is dissolving to pieces after years and years of tightly-held control.

And outside, the ship continues sailing on silently under the darkened skies.

_"… Thank you, Grandpa."_

.

.

Ritsu is fidgeting outside the room where Grandfather and Grandpa are having a 'talk' in, and while part of her is nervous at finally, _finally_ seeing Grandfather again, now independent of CP9 and all the restrictions that being an agent implies and carries, another part of her is… well, nervous at seeing Grandfather again.

Her memories of the man are fond, but… what if things have changed on his end? Grandpa Garp did say that Grandfather missed her, but what if that was only an attempt to make her feel better? What if Grandfather didn't really–

(She needn't have worried.)

"RITSU!"

The doors fly open with a loud bang; Ritsu blinks and finds herself swept up in a giant, crushing bear hug.

… Her eyes are starting to water again.

"Ritsu. Ritsu. _Ritsu."_

"I…" her mouth is dry. She swallows hard, eyes blinking rapidly. "I missed you, Grandfather."

.

.

After this incident with the Cipher Pol, Grandfather becomes highly reluctant to let her out of his sight again. Ritsu can relate to this feeling –she herself is reluctant to part from Grandfather for any length of time on her end as well.

However, as Sengoku holds the title of the Fleet Admiral, there is currently still no feasible way for him to raise his young granddaughter by himself in any manner loosely resembling that of a normal childhood by his side. There is no telling if Ritsu can even adjust to living as normally as normal nine year-olds her age do at this point, anyways. After all, no average nine year-olds have ever spent five years of their life in the blood pit that is CP9.

And for the other option, to bend normal protocol in light of special circumstances for Ritsu to join the Marines–

_"She is only nine years old!"_

Something warm curls in Ritsu's chest when Grandfather defends her when this option is tentatively raised. Even though she's not _really_ nine –mentally, at least– it is… heartening, to know that Grandfather cares for her still, just as he always had. She knows that he ought to have received reports by now in addition to previously hearing the story from Grandpa Garp beforehand; Ritsu knows that Grandfather is well aware of what occurred with CP9's mission in the kingdom with the hostage crisis –the result of which includes five hundred soldiers dead, a pirate crew literally dismembered into bloody little pieces, and the captain beheaded for the world to see.

"You will join the Marines when you are seventeen like everyone else," Grandfather says, before something in his expression softens at her. "You're a clever girl, Ritsu, and I know you're more than capable. But your circumstances with CP9 cannot be revealed for any reason, and if I bring you in early, it will only look like favoritism to the public eye. More than that, you've already been involved with enough death for one so young. Do you understand, Ritsu?"

She nods and smiles.

"I understand, Grandfather. During this time before I turn seventeen, I will train hard so I can make myself useful–"

_"NO!"_

Her smile falters, and she takes a small step back from Grandfather's sudden outburst. The old man sucks in a deep breath when he sees that he has frightened the little child, abruptly returning to the perfect image of the epitome of calm before he sits down again.

"No," he shakes his head, a regretful light in his eyes as he looks at her. "Ritsu, do you know why I arranged for you to be sent to the Cipher Pol? Yes, Cipher Pol mainly deals with intel and doesn't see much risk for combat. Yes, Cipher Pol would protect your identity and make it hard for any of my enemies to find you. But most importantly… it was so that you would be _safe,_ away from prying eyes. It was so you could grow up _normally,_ just like any other child, have a normal, happy childhood…"

It wouldn't be hard for an organization like Cipher Pol. Just put her with a Cipher Pol family stationed in a specific town that specialized in gathering local intel, and she would've been able to blend in with any other child of the town once proper background documents were drawn up for her.

Instead, however, Ritsu had been placed with CP9.

"… What would you have me do for six years then, Grandfather?" she asks, and it's a perfectly valid question, in her opinion. Any chance of a normal childhood for Senritsu, granddaughter of Sengoku, has long been buried and burned to ashes through the efforts of CP9, and… while she doesn't regret it, doesn't regret asking for strength that day five years ago –she cannot help but wonder how things would've turned out if circumstances had been… different. If it hadn't been CP9 who had taken her in and dragged her through blood and darkness and–

"Well," the old man says with a small smile. "You're familiar with Garp, aren't you?"

.

.

"Grandpa Garp? Where are we going?"

"Bwahahaha! Just follow along, ask questions later!"

Grandpa Garp certainly seems to be in a good mood today, the little girl surmises. In fact, ever since they had pulled into harbor mere minutes ago and set foot in the little coastal town, Grandpa Garp literally perked up and became much more cheerful than usual. And considering just how cheerful the old man usually was…

"Is there something special in this town, Grandpa?"

"You're a sharp one, Ritsu!"

… So that is a yes, then. Ritsu can't help but find herself becoming curious –how often was it that a small, unassuming town like this one came to be of interest to someone like Grandpa Garp, the Hero of the Marines?

What's the name of the town again? Foosha Village?

The townspeople here are certainly friendly, if nothing else. Friendly greetings and good-natured waves are tossed their way as they walk down the streets together. It's probably a good thing, a good sign, but it makes Ritsu downright nervous to have so much attention on her –of course, she isn't the one receiving the full brunt of the attention like Grandpa Garp is, but it simply makes her uncomfortable to be the center of focus.

(Maybe she gets a little too obvious about her discomfort after awhile, since the old man reaches out a hand to clasp her around the shoulder in a reassuring manner, and it's… warm.)

"Here we are!"

The house that they finally stop in front of looks nothing special.

"Well? Come on in."

… Even so, there must be _something_ unusual about it. Ritsu enters cautiously on light steps, and–

"Oh my, Garp! You brought a little visitor with you today?"

There is a young woman inside the room, sitting at the table. Dark-haired, wide-eyed, pretty. A warm, welcoming smile is spread across her face, and Ritsu finds herself wound up even more tensely than usual –it's a similar feeling from the villagers outside that she gets from the woman, and she finds herself looking, _looking,_ because obviously there must be something wrong and dark and dangerous lurking underneath; after all, who would–?

"Manners, Ritsu!"

… Right. Not CP9.

A small pout forms over Ritsu's lips as Garp's fist drills into her head in sharp reprimand.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss," she says with a short bow. And promptly receives another noogie to the head, courtesy of Garp again, while the young woman sitting at the kitchen table starts laughing.

"Stop that, Grandpa!"

"Talk normally, you little brat!"

"Ahaha, I think she gets the point now, Garp. Ritsu, is it?" the young woman stands up, arms moving to properly support the bundle in her lap, which had been previously hidden from view when she was sitting down. "It's very nice to meet you, too, Ritsu. My name is Makino, and this little one here is Luffy."

The sleeping toddler chooses that moment to let out a loud snore.

"Bwahahaha! Isn't my cute little grandson adorable? He's going to grow up into a fine Marine one day!"

… Grandson?

.

.

To say that Ritsu is not pleased at being left behind in Foosha Village is an understatement of the highest degree. Which probably explained Garp's sudden departure in the middle of the night yesterday that no one in the village could make heads or tails of.

"Hero," indeed.

"Ritsu! Ritsu, are you still there?"

Grandpa Garp is very, _very_ lucky that Makino is as nice as she is. Had he left her with anyone else, Ritsu probably would've taken her irritation out on them CP9-style by now, upon discovering that she had been essentially abandoned here. Why would he do something like that?

She plans on giving the old man a hell of a greeting when he came back here.

"Ritsu?"

… The little girl winces from where she is currently hiding on the rooftop.

For her, the problem of living with Makino is that the nice young woman is too… _nice._ Ritsu doesn't trust Makino the way she trusts Grandfather or Grandpa, and to have someone act this nicely towards her, even if it's actually genuine, it– it sets off the alarms on her CP9-honed senses; makes them go _haywire._

(… Maybe this is why Garp dumped her in Foosha Village? So she can… _adjust_ to living in an environment where everyone and their grandma _wasn't_ looking to stick a knife in her back the moment she let her guard down for the sake of learning to 'stay alert?')

_"RITSU! YOUNG LADY, WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, SITTING ON THE ROOFTOP LIKE THAT?!"_

"… Eep."

.

.

Garp doesn't return to Foosha until one-and-a-half months later, and by then Ritsu has fallen in love.

She can't help it. Luffy is _adorable._ Even if the kid has the craziest knack of getting into trouble and making messes and generally just causing trouble and mayhem wherever he goes, the kid's smiles shine brighter than the sun with all his exuberance and cheer, and maybe Ritsu is a little more than besotted with that. It's something completely foreign to her and not in a bad way; it makes something inside of her fuzzy and warm and this feeling of cradling something so young and precious in her arms…

"My grandson is the cutest!" Grandpa Garp cheers. Loudly.

Ritsu turns and promptly kicks him in the shin.

(Not that she disagrees with that particular statement –but she needs to get back at the man somehow for ditching her here in the first place without so much as a by-your-leave, right?)

As absolutely darling as little Luffy is, though, Ritsu knows that even if she is openly allowed to form attachments with anyone she wants now, there is a very good _reason_ why the CP9 worked so hard to drill out excessive emotions from their agents. Maybe if she hadn't spent five years of her life with CP9, she could bring herself to let this fondness for the child really turn into something akin to love–

But she belongs out on the sea. She _needs_ to be on the sea; six years –honestly, does Grandpa Garp expect her to stay put in Foosha Village for six years?

.

.

The old man ditches her. Again.

.

.

Approximately five more repeats of the same visit-and-run performance, and Ritsu is _this_ close to snapping.

… It wouldn't be hard to leave, she thinks darkly, fuming. There are plenty of ships in the harbor; even if none of them will take her because they know Grandpa Garp is the one who brought her here and wants her to _stay_ here, it won't be hard to sneak on board without anyone noticing. She can hide with the cargo in the back, and when the ship lifts anchor–

Little Luffy rolls over in his sleep, and Ritsu blinks in surprise when the kid snuggles into her side just as she decides to get up and make for the docks tonight. If she doesn't know any better, she would say that it's as if he somehow subconsciously knew that she wanted – _wants_ – to leave.

It takes every ounce of self control Ritsu has and then some for her to not react in very CP9-ified ways when little Luffy flops an arm over her chest and clings to her like a koala bear, because the human torso contains so many vulnerable points and she doesn't, has never–

…

…

…

… Maybe she'll consider leaving tomorrow night.

.

.

Ritsu doesn't end up leaving tomorrow night. Or the day after tomorrow night. Or even the day after that, really.

What ends up happening instead is that Ritsu falls back into a high-paced pattern of training from her CP9 days. It's not quite the same as what she is used to, mostly because there aren't any proper training materials here and because there isn't anyone to spar with, but Ritsu makes do with what she has. Luffy is absolutely delighted whenever she sets him atop a crate of water on her back and starts doing push-ups, and she doesn't really have the heart to chase the little kid off, even when he starts jumping. It's good training, anyways, even if the kid isn't particularly heavy yet.

Ritsu ends up running errands for Makino all over town. From buying supplies and delivering orders of food to whatever random task Makino wants done. Luffy sometimes runs along with her on the streets, too, but mostly it becomes Luffy riding atop her shoulders, laughing and shrieking, "Faster! Faster!" as she runs, runs, runs. His shouts become even louder with exhilarated excitement during the rare times when she carries him into the air with _geppo,_ but Ritsu doesn't dare try the near-instantaneous flash of _soru_ with Luffy clinging onto her –who knows what ill effects such high-speed movement might have on a little kid?

She ends up carrying groceries for the grandma living next door. She ends up learning tips and tricks from fishermen on lazy days along the wharfs. She ends up running messages when people living on the opposite ends of town want to get a quick word across to each other.

Eventually, the people of Foosha Village come to know her as Ritsu, Luffy's sister. Their individual complexions might be a little too different to really pin down as blood siblings, and black hair and black eyes are common enough all around, but appearances have never really mattered too much in the end. Everyone knows that messing with Luffy will mean the same as poking the sleeping bear that is his older sister, who gets _vicious_ whenever something like this regarding her little brother is involved.

Ritsu never does get around to leaving.

.

.

"Oi, if you're just gonna get violent, leave!"

"Yeah, you crazy little rat–"

"What the fuck is your problem, you brat?!"

Ritsu is walking past a bar with a large bag of sausages in her arms, humming along and minding her own business, when she is suddenly hit by a cannonball out of nowhere. She can only blame herself for this misstep; if she hadn't been so focused on deciphering Makino's handwriting on the small grocery shopping list, she definitely would've noticed that cannonball approaching her from a mile away–

Wait, cannonball?

"Oi, what the hell?!" Several men begin to emerge from the dingy, shady-looking bar, some with jagged beer bottles in hand as they swagger out. "You better apologize for attacking us out of the blue like that, you little piece of shit!"

Ritsu looks up just in time to see a younger boy clamber off her with clenched teeth and burning eyes; there is a wild, borderline animalistic roar that tears its way out of his throat as he bodily hurls himself at the half-drunk men once more. She can take a guess as to how this got started –most likely, the men had said or done something to stir up the boy into a frenzy. Had it been something on the boy's end infuriating the men, then it would be the drunks charging at the little boy instead of the other way around.

It's none of her business, though–

_Clang._

Ritsu freezes, her fingers mere inches away from picking up Makino's grocery list, which had slipped from her fingertips. The grocery list that… that was now completely illegible, thanks to the copious amounts of beer spilling from a shattered bottle on the ground.

"… Who threw that?" she hears herself asking, voice unnaturally calm.

One of the men sneers, sauntering over with arms folded defiantly across his chest. "I don't see what's yer problem, girlie–"

Ritsu promptly nails the drunkard with a kick to the face and breaks his nose.

.

.

"Makino?"

"Hm?" the woman turns around, "Oh wow, you're a lot faster than I thought you would be this time–"

The cooking spatula in her hand clatters to the ground.

"This is Ace," Ritsu gestures to the younger, scowling boy standing beside her in the doorway –who looks as if he would rather be anywhere else in the world _but_ here, ready to bolt at the first opportunity. It's not the boy's attitude that shocks Makino, though. What shocks her is the sheer amount of _blood_ and mottled bruises covering the kid's body, while Ritsu stands a clean contrast beside him, save for a few suspicious splatters of red on the edge of her shirt.

"There was a, hm… accident," the little girl says diplomatically, in an innocent tone of voice that does not reassure Makino at all. "One that involved some drunks stumbling about in broad daylight and broken beer bottles. Can we have some bandages, please?"

Makino finally regains control of her frozen limbs and immediately turns on her heel, dashing upstairs for the first-aid kit that's always been stashed there in the cupboards ever since Luffy first started getting more than his fair share of scrapes and cuts from 'exploring.'

"Thanks, Makino!" the young girl calls out cheerfully after her caretaker.

"Ritsu? Remind me to have a _talk_ with you later today. This is not what I meant when I told you to go out and make some friends!"

.

.

"… Why did you help me?"

Ritsu hums noncommittally as she disinfects the little kid's wounds. Ace looks more than a little discomfited by what she's doing and winces more than once from the stinging pain over his open wounds. His wariness and borderline-hostility towards her does not decrease one jot.

"You should just get lost before I–"

"What I do," Ritsu says mildly, "Is none of your damn business. And I wasn't really helping you back there or anything –those guys ruined the grocery list Makino gave me, so I was just giving them what they deserved. It has nothing to do with you."

A small lull of silence passes between the two.

"… But didn't you drop the list on your own –OW OW OW YOU FU–"

 _"Language,_ Ace dear," Ritsu smiles sharply, and the younger boy nearly blows a gasket in righteous indignation.

"YOU SWORE JUST NOW, TOO!"

"Ahhh, but I'm older than you," a glimmer of mischief enters Ritsu's eyes, and she smiles teasingly. "As one of your elders who is infinitely wiser and more skilled than you, I do believe I have the right to–"

"The right to _what,_ exactly?"

Both children freeze.

"… Ah, Makino!" the little girl tosses off a snappy salute. "Have I mentioned that you're looking very lovely today?"

"Nice try, Ritsu. Better luck next time."

Ace stops laughing when Makino hits him over the head with her frying pan, too. Nothing stops Luffy from laughing at the both of them until he falls down from the porch, and even then the little boy is rolling on the ground in laughter.

The ensuing three-way tussle between the children doesn't stop till sundown.

.

.

"Sabo, this is Ritsu, and that is Luffy. Ritsu, Luffy, this is Sabo."

This is the meeting that marks the start of something both great and terrible.

… Foosha Village was never really quite the same afterwards.

.

.

("Curse you, Garp! Take your little hellions with you and get them out of here before they burn down the village!"

"Bwahahahaha!"

"GARP!")

.

.

Ritsu knows what she will do with her life once she turns seventeen. It's something she knows as surely as she does that her full name is Senritsu and she is the granddaughter of Sengoku; for her, there has always only ever been one option for the path before her.

"I'm gonna be the Pirate King!" Luffy cheers to her side, Ace and Sabo right along with him and no less enthusiastic for it.

Ritsu smiles dryly. Considering how much the 'terrible trio' valued their freedom and laughed with the chaos they left in their wake… no, she wasn't quite surprised that they'd taken so quickly to the idea of piracy, to the promises of freedom and adventure to be found out upon the ocean blue. Admittedly, though, there was still a part of her that hoped this would only be another passing fancy, like the time Luffy wanted to jump off the roof and fly…

(She had abstained from carrying him around using _geppo_ for a full month afterwards. Honestly, the kid…)

"What about you, little missy?" the red-haired pirate responsible for planting the idea of piracy in their minds, turns to her with a cheerful smile.

Ritsu isn't quite fond of Shanks, but the man is of the decent sort for a pirate, which she supposes she can tolerate. Besides, her boys like him, so that's another point in his favor, too. Even if he's the one to spark the fire for piracy in their eyes. If Garp ever met this man when he learned of his influence on his sons…

"What's going to be your goal when you're older, little missy?"

Ritsu practically beams at him.

"I will be a Marine, of course."

"… WHAAAAAT?!"

The shout comes from her brothers. Ritsu doesn't turn to look at them, though, instead opting to continue smiling cheerfully at the red-haired pirate, whose moment of shock disappears as quickly as it had come in the first place.

"Oh?" Red-Haired Shanks simply gives a hearty laugh, downing another long drag of sake before turning his gaze to her again. "Quite the contrast to your brothers, eh? Is there any particular reason for it?"

"Hm…" she cocks her head, before grinning brightly and chirping, "No, not really."

"WAIT WAIT WAIT." Ritsu is seized by the shoulders by an increasingly-growing-panicked Luffy who shakes her back and forth wildly. For a seven year-old kid, he has quite the strong grip. "YOU WANNA BE A MARINE? DOESN'T THAT MEAN YOU'RE JUST GONNA CATCH US WHEN WE BECOME PIRATES?"

"Ah, I suppose so," she throws her boys a quick thumbs up. "Better be fast on your feet then, ne?"

"WHAT KIND OF RESPONSE IS THAT?" the three of them holler simultaneously at her, the force of which knocks Ritsu over in her seat.

Shanks throws back his head and laughs.

.

.

Ritsu is on the other end of town with Ace and Sabo, doing chores for Makino when the bandits come. By the time they hear the story of how Luffy ran off on his own to confront the bandits, to make them apologize for insulting Shanks, because Shanks is his _friend_ –Ace's fists are clenched, Sabo's face is set in a dangerous scowl, and Ritsu is no longer smiling.

_Luffy._

The thought of anyone, _anyone_ hurting dear little Luffy –it's enough to make her blood boil.

Something of a blank haze descends over Ritsu's mind as she leaps into the air with _geppo,_ discarding the subtlety and discretion she has practiced all these years, uncaring of the startled shouts from the villagers that she leaves in her wake. While Ace and Sabo race through the nooks and crannies of the alleyways they know so well, Ritsu rides the wind as she forces her body onwards faster, faster, _faster_ to reach her little brother.

She finds them.

The bandits.

She finds a horde of bandits by the time she arrives, sees the Red-Haired Pirates beginning to arrive on the scene, catches sight of Shanks moving to defend Luffy, but then there's _smoke_ and _she can't see Luffy anymore where is Luffy?!_

Ritsu doesn't carry any weapons on her these days, true to playing up to the image of a simple village girl. But she doesn't need any weapons, because–

Because her body is her weapon.

 _"Luffy!_ "

Her finger stabs into a bandit's chest as she sidesteps a thrust of the blade. Even though it's been years since she last killed, her movements are flawless and unclouded with any hesitation. Eyes narrowing, she twists off another bandit's head with her bare hands in a mimicry of what she remembers Lucci doing that day so long ago, a wet _pop_ following her motions, and she slams the decapitated head into another bandit's skull.

Her motions are not clean and precise as she always keeps it. There is a brutal underscore of savagery to it all as she leaps through the bandits' ranks like a whirlwind of death and torn limbs and _where is Luffy, give me back my brother you damn bastards or I'll tear off your arms and stuff them down your throat–_

_Luffy._

_Luffy, where are you?_

She does not come back to herself until she hears Ace and Sabo calling out for her, until she realizes that she is being held down by Ben Beckman to stop her from dismembering dead corpses in front of her brothers, until she realizes that she is drenched in blood in a way she hasn't been for a long, long time.

.

.

_"I'm fine, Ritsu! Shanks… Shanks saved me!"_

"Thank you," she breathes to the redheaded pirate in front of his crew –the pirate who is now missing an _arm,_ whose breathing is a little rough but nevertheless maintains a steady smile on his face as he looks at her. _"Thank you."_

"Think nothing of it, Ritsu. After all, Luffy is our little– whoa, Ritsu! Ritsu! Guys, er, can someone–"

Ritsu has fallen on her hands and knees at Red-Haired Shanks' feet, forehead pressing hard into the ground as she bows. Around her, the other pirates begin tugging her to her feet, insisting that there is no need for her to do this; Luffy is just as precious to them as he is to her so of course they–

She stubbornly ignores them, persisting to kneel.

(This is something she knows she must do.)

"I thought I was going to lose him," her voice is steady, unwavering, and there's something in her eyes again, making everything go all blurry. "I– I was so caught up with the killing, the blood; I didn't even notice where they were taking Luffy in the midst of it all, and I… I just… thank you, _thank you for saving my brother."_

For a moment, Shanks does not say anything as she continues kneeling into the ground before him.

"… It's scary, isn't it?" the pirate finally breaks the silence, and Ritsu knows what he is talking about.

_It's scary, isn't it? The prospect of losing Luffy. The thought of losing your precious little brother._

Ritsu remembers a conversation from a long time ago, when she tells a Marine that she wants to be strong and the Marine thinks that she seeks strength so that she won't have to worry about being attacked by anyone again, so that she will be able to defend herself. At the time, Ritsu had claimed that she wanted to be strong just like her Grandfather, to protect people–

It's a lie.

Ritsu had reached out for strength partially because she had never wanted to feel so helpless again, but also because she didn't want Grandfather to worry about her, because she didn't want to be a _burden_ to the man who loved her without ever asking anything in exchange. She didn't want to be his weakness –what other option was there, then, aside from becoming strong? Strong enough in her own right so that he would never need to worry about her again?

She remembers.

Ritsu still remembers that day when the Marine who was supposed to fix her a snack suddenly turned on her and held a knife to her neck instead. She remembers freezing in fear, terror coursing through her veins.

The sheer horror she had felt when she realized that _Luffy could be dead_ completely eclipses the terror she had experienced over her own wellbeing.

… Is this the difference, then? The difference between fighting with nothing behind you, and fighting to protect that which you held precious to you? Ritsu thinks she may be on to something here, thinks that maybe Shanks has a point in what he brings up here. She hadn't quite liked the man in the beginning, mostly for the simple fact that he was a _pirate_ and he was encouraging her brothers to be pirates as well, the bastard –but, but she thinks she sees the difference now, between the pirates like Shanks and the pirates who had murdered her parents so long ago.

Something in her heart loosens at that realization.

"Thank you for saving him, Shanks." Ritsu bows her head to the pirate one last time. "Next time, I'll be strong enough that I won't need your help to drag my brother out of trouble."

Red-Haired Shanks smiles.

"Luffy is lucky to have a big sister like you," he tells her. "It's a damn fine shame you're going to be a Marine."

.

.

"DAMN THAT STUPID RED-HAIRED BASTARD, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MY ABSENCE TO INDOCTRINATE MY GRANDCHILDREN IN HIS THIEVING PIRATE WAYS! I'M TELLING YOU, MY CUTE LITTLE GRANDCHILDREN ARE GOING TO BE THE BEST MARINES, EVER!"

.

.

Sometimes, Ritsu isn't quite sure how Grandpa Garp's mind works. He claims that the reason his 'cute little grandchildren' turned to piracy so easily is because living in Foosha Village softened them too much, obviously, so somehow the solution to this is sending them off to live with mountain bandits?

"I hate mountain bandits!" Luffy shouts, memory of the incident with Shanks still sharp and poignant in his mind.

Ritsu figures that it's going to be a long three years she'll be spending here under Dadan's care.

"Why did you tell Gramps that you want to be a pirate, too?" Ace asks her later after the old Vice Admiral has left, when the four of them are neck-deep in the jungle and hanging precariously from a set of swinging vines while tigers prowl underneath them. "Didn't you say to Shanks that you wanted to be a Marine?"

Ritsu smirks, a sneaky, sly expression on her face despite the dangerous situation they are in.

"I don't like being stuck in the forest like this any more than you do, but I figured it would be pretty hilarious to have Grandpa Garp explain to my grandfather –who's also a Marine, by the way– just exactly why his granddaughter wants to be a pirate when she grows up."

.

.

Living with Dadan is… different, from living in Foosha Village. Life is much more rough and rugged and maybe more than a little bit morally questionable from this point onwards, but Ritsu doesn't mind.

She's got her boys, after all.

.

.

Ritsu experiences a bit of yet another moral dilemma when she finds out that the trio have started stealing from the wealthy nobles of Goa during her absences from the group, when she is caught up in her own training and venturing deep into the darker parts of the jungle where it would be too dangerous to bring her brothers along with her. On one hand, Ritsu knows that stealing is wrong and unethical and she really shouldn't be encouraging this attitude in her brothers –wanting to be pirates is already bad enough, adding thievery on top of that is just…

…

On the other hand, though, it's the Goa nobles they're talking about here. _Goa nobles._ Who are the most bigoted, stuffed-up, self-important idiots she has ever met, and Ritsu thinks that having them knocked down a peg or two off their high pedestals will be good for everyone all-round. And really, it's all rather harmless in the end–

Until the day Luffy gets captured.

The Gray Terminal is where everything unwanted from the nobles' precious city is dumped. There are all sorts of unsavory characters who linger here, and amongst their ranks include the Bluejam pirates. The Bluejam pirates, who had captured Luffy when they caught him alone and without his siblings around him. A crew of pirates who would've willingly tortured a little kid to _death_ in order for him to spill the location of their treasures.

Ritsu returns with a frantic war drum beating in her chest, and–

And… it's okay. Her boys are home; Ace and Sabo had worked together to rescue Luffy from the pirates. The three are covered in blood and bruises, hurt but alive and _safe._ Ritsu recognizes the signs of torture when she sees them, and her eyes darken. If Luffy hadn't eaten the Gomu-Gomu no Mi, he would be dead. _Dead._

That's… not okay.

Ritsu slips out that night from Dadan's hideout, when everyone is asleep. Her destination is the hideout of Porchemy of the Bluejam pirates, a man rumored to revel in bloodshed, who liked to skin his victims using that long knife of his, gifted to him by his captain.

She intends to make a statement.

_"W-What the hell are you doing?! I-I-I'm telling you, it's not even our fault in the first place! It's those kids who stole from us! We just tried to teach them a lesson, they even took out–"_

Ritsu flips in midair, right foot slamming into a man's chest and making it explode in gory pieces while her left hand literally tears out another man's still-beating heart.

She crushes it in her palm and laughs.

"It doesn't matter what they do or whose fault it is," she says breezily, still laughing. "Hurt my brothers, and I'll make you pay the price tenfold."

Ritsu picks up a long knife from where it has fallen to the ground, and smiles at Porchemy, who is pinned to the ground by four branches serving as wooden stakes through his body.

"Your specialty is skinning people alive, right?" she twirls the blade over her fingertips. "Can't say I've got much experience with that, but I promise you I'm a quick learner…"

The knife spins to a halt and comes down.

.

.

It is… unusual, for Ritsu to bear the brutal side of her nurtured by CP9 to her brothers. But word spreads quickly in the Gray Terminal of the fate that has befallen Porchemy of the Bluejam pirates, and Ritsu experiences a sort of shaky unease that she hasn't felt in a long time–

_What if they think I'm too vicious what if they're scared of me what if they don't want me anymore?_

(She needn't have worried.)

Flat on her back in the bottom of the dog-pile of little boys, hearing how _stupid_ she is and how she _didn't need to go ahead and do that, we took care of it ourselves, didn't we?_ … Ritsu wraps her arms around her boys, and smiles.

.

.

Everything begins shattering after Sabo leaves (is taken against his will), after there is word that the _Tenryuubito_ are visiting (coming to show off their superiority and wealth), when a whisper on the wind says that the _Gray Terminal will burn down, down, down–_

Ritsu regrets.

She very dearly regrets not having gone ahead and eliminated the entirety of the Bluejam pirates when Porchemy first attacked her brothers that day. In hindsight, she really should've just gone ahead and skipped the warning.

"Ace and Dadan are still out there! Ritsu, you have to–"

What is the use of training all the time if she is not there when her family needs her?

Ritsu stops at the edge of the flames encircling the Gray Terminal. She can see hazy silhouettes inside –only Ace and Dadan and fucking _Bluejam_ are still inside, and the scorching heat of the flames is so strong that it seems as if the world might burn down–

_"Geppo."_

She steps into the air, landing lightly within the sea of flames.

_"Soru."_

Ritsu vanishes, reappearing right in front of a snarling pirate captain who dreamed of being a noble and would drag down any and everyone he could when he realized that his dream would never come to be–

_"Shigan."_

Her eyes are colder than ice as the pirate crumples to the ground, a hole in his chest not unlike the handiwork of a bullet, and Ritsu lowers her hand, a single finger stained with blood.

"You deserve this, you utter _bastard."_

.

.

_"SABO!"_

Dead. Deaddead _dead._ Sabo hadn't abandoned them; Sabo _didn't_ want to go back and live with his parents. Sabo is their brother. _Brother._

Ritsu lifts her face up to the heavens, and _screams._

.

.

Time passes, and the children pick up the broken pieces of themselves to put back together with each other's help as best they can, and move on. They don't forget; _never forget_ –but they learn to move on.

Ritsu eventually turns seventeen, and applies for the Marines. She suspects that the quick processing of her paperwork, known to take up to a month while hers is barely a week in its entirety, has a lot to do with Grandfather, for all his claims that he will not be 'favoring' her over any of the other Marines.

Part of her is excited at the prospect of seeing Grandfather again after so long, but the other–

"WAAAAAAAH! RITSU, DON'T GO!"

"Don't be a crybaby, Luffy!"

"… 'M NOT A CRYBABY!"

Ritsu moves and hugs her boys close, tearing up a little herself as well.

"Four more years until you set out yourself, Ace. Seven more years to go for you, Luffy." She pats them on the head respectively, "Even if you two still decide on being pirates, we will still be able to meet on the seas."

By this point, Ritsu cannot deny to herself that she is very, very attached to her brothers. She is a very different person from the little girl who had arrived at this island six years ago, and while these changes might've been frightening for the Ritsu of that time to consider, she thinks she does not mind it now.

.

.

Ritsu works her way from the bottom up.

Not that she stays on the bottom for long –with Ritsu as who she is and the skills she possesses, forcing her to continually mop floors and polish cabins on a ship is damn near criminal. Ritsu goes from a cabin girl to fighting on the front lines, and learns to sit down and write reports almost as well as Luffy learning to stretch out his arm with all the special properties that come with being a rubber man.

Ritsu sees a lot of things during this time. Shanks and his crew, as she comes to learn, is something of an anomaly out on the seas –most pirates often _do_ turn out to be no better than thieves and bandits, and Ritsu has already lost count of how many pirates she has either beaten up or killed outright by this point. In contrast, however, Ritsu has also witnessed with her own two eyes the corruption that exists among the Marines themselves, and some of these actions outright disgust her.

Justice.

The Marines are to uphold Justice in this world, so what is 'Justice,' really? 'Doing right by the people' and 'protecting others' seem to be the two most common answers she receives, but those are vague concepts, abstract ideas more than anything else. Say that there is a corrupt official squandering government money in a poor city –would Justice mean to take the official to jail and redistribute the stolen money, slapping the man with a heavy debt, or would it mean to look the other eye because most of the money was going to medical treatment for said official's sick grandmother?

'Just do the right thing' is an easy statement to make. But what is 'right,' really?

Ritsu–

Doesn't know.

She _does_ knows that she'll have a long time ahead of her to find out, though.

.

.

One day, one of the men under Ritsu's command comes to her with a problem.

"Captain, I… I have a problem." The man looks away for a moment. For all that this little slip of a young woman is his commanding officer, something in him must recoil at coming to her with his woes. Ritsu listens silently as the man struggles to formulate his words. "My father, he's… the mayor of Huffinpost Town. Originally, I was supposed to succeed him, but I came to join the Marines instead. Right now he's facing trial for a whole list of supposed criminal activities that he never did! I… Is there any way…"

"You're breaking protocol, y'know." Ritsu smiles. "Bringing personal problems to your Captain now when you know we're on a tight schedule to make it back for a meeting, hm? You really must be left with no other option if you're coming here to me like this."

The man's expression tightens, and Ritsu laughs.

"Okay!" she agrees easily, and his jaw drops open in shock. "We'll swing by Huffinpost on our way back."

It is discovered after some investigating that the young man's father had indeed been framed. By then the Captains' meeting that Ritsu had been expected to attend is long since over and done with, and she is approached by her subordinate, who asks her _why._ As a Captain who ranks above him, who has every right to attend to her duties as a Captain, who has no need to listen to her subordinate's personal troubles and help him like this _–why?_

Ritsu smiles and asks him why, too. The man looks confused.

"You know that I am a Captain, that I rank above you, that I can easily ignore your troubles in favor of carrying out my official duties. Why did you ask for my help, then?"

"Because…" the man falters. "Because my father was in trouble. I couldn't think of anything else–"

"There's your reason," Ritsu smiles. "Family is precious, and I know I would go running back if I ever caught wind of any of them in trouble. Even though I have certain duties that I am obliged to complete as a Captain of the Marines… well. It is the duty entrusted to us through the Justice of the Marines to protect, isn't it, Koen?"

The blond man looks horribly startled at being called out by name, surprised that she even knows his name in the first place, and Ritsu laughs.

.

.

When there are rumors of a new super-rookie pirate crew on the rise, one insanely strong and only growing stronger by the day –Ritsu can only shake her head and smile.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you chose this in the end, Ace."

.

.

"Commodore? Commodore Ritsu? What are you–"

"I'm going on vacation!"

"W-W- _What?"_

"You heard me, Koen!"

The blond wrings his hands and very narrowly represses the urge to smash his head against the wall next to him. As he has come to learn over the years, Ritsu can be whimsical at the best of times and _insane_ at worst. He would willingly follow the girl through hell if she demanded it of him, he really would –but some things are just downright ridiculous, really.

_"You haven't filled out any paperwork applying for a leave in the first place and it's fucking three AM in the morning!"_

The young girl waggles her fingers at him over her shoulder as she leaps off the Marine ship. The Marine ship that _she_ is in command of. "You're the best, Koen! I trust you to come up with a good excuse for me!"

Koen turns and bashes his head against the nearest wall. Just what brought on this latest bout of crazy, anyways?

…

(A newspaper is haphazardly folded inside Commodore Ritsu's desk. The headline is halfway hidden by the messy fold, but the other half of it is clearly exposed.

 _Is it True? Spade Pirates join Whitebeard–_ )

.

.

"ACE!"

Portgas D. Ace wakes up to the holler of a familiar voice that he hasn't heard in years. In fact, it's been so long since he last heard it that he decides that he must be still dreaming –at least, until the entire ship _shakes,_ and Ace bolts upright in his hammock, eyes wide.

An attack. Someone is fighting out there. Someone is challenging Whitebeard on the _Moby Dick_ –

(Who? Who would be so stupid as to–)

"I'll take care of this one, yoi."

"I don't have time to mess with you. _Where is Ace?"_

"Well, what do you want with him then, yoi?"

"… That's none of your business."

Ace bursts onto the deck in a blaze of flames just in time to witness Marco's phoenix-blue flames plow into a cloaked figure–

"STOP!"

"… Ace?"

Ritsu. It's _Ritsu._ The young woman –and she's undoubtedly a woman now– blinks in surprise at seeing him, before a smile spreads across her face. Without the cloak obscuring her form anymore, it's easy enough to see that it's Ritsu, _Ritsu_ standing here before him, hale and healthy–

Without even realizing it, Ace surges forward and crushes his sister in a tight hug. He's taller than her now, strangely enough, and the role reversal in height feels almost bizarre.

"… You could've _told_ us that you're expecting someone here today, yoi." Marco grouses without any real heat, slipping back into a lazy sort of slouch now that he realizes Ritsu doesn't mean to– "That your lover, yoi?"

Ace blanches, stepping back from his sister almost immediately at the suggestive inquiry, while Ritsu makes a funny sort of face and wrinkles her nose.

"Uh, no. Incest is _wrong,"_ Ritsu sniffs, and half the ship immediately breaks out into a frenzied rabble that consisted of things like _Ace has a sister whoa wait since when–_

"She's adopted," Ace says quickly, eyes flickering briefly to Whitebeard – _father_ – for a moment, remembering what he had disclosed to him of his lineage. "Guys, this is Ritsu. Ritsu, this is–"

"The Whitebeard Pirates, yeah, I know." His sister –his brilliant, brave, reckless older sister– folds her arms across her chest, "Pretty much impossible to _not_ know of them, Ace. Question is, what are _you_ doing here with them?"

"I've joined the Whitebeard Pirates."

…

…

…

"… Keep an eye out for the news next month, Ace. Honestly, I swear you'll be the death of me one day, with all these stunts you keep pulling… I can only imagine what a terror Luffy is going to be. Next month is going to be my turn to give _you_ a heart attack, brother dear."

.

.

_"WHAT THE HELL? YOUR OLDER SISTER IS VICE ADMIRAL SENRITSU, GRANDDAUGHTER OF FLEET ADMIRAL SENGOKU HIMSELF?! ARE YOU INSANE OR ARE YOU INSANE?!"_

_"THE FUCK ARE YOU SHOUTING AT ME FOR, I DIDN'T KNOW THIS EITHER!"_

.

.

Akainu.

Ritsu does not know what to make of the man, but strength is something she respects, and so she follows his lead. Akainu does not seem to think much of her in the beginning, and it's not like she can't see why –her string of rapid promotions over the last seven-odd years is nothing short of phenomenal. On one hand, she can see accusations of favoritism from the corners, which she can understand, but on the other hand –one word: CP9. CP9 is where it all started in the first place, and Ritsu herself has been no slouch with her own training over the years, either. Despite what others might think, she has literally worked her ass off to get to the place where she is at today instead of sitting somewhere twiddling her thumbs and looking pretty.

It's not easy.

It's not easy during the first few months, when she is subtly but surely given the cold shoulder by others around her. Honestly, it's only thanks to the efforts of people like Koen, who know her as cheery, whimsical Ritsu rather than Senritsu the granddaughter of Sengoku that she manages to stay sane through this transition.

As for Akainu–

Ritsu isn't quite sure _exactly,_ but she thinks she begins to earn the Admiral's approval when ruthlessness bleeds into her actions in completing the missions she is tasked with. When elimination of an infamous pirate crew ends in butchered pieces scattered for the crows, and an entire city is burned down to stop a disease from spreading.

"One must not care for matters of the heart when carrying out Absolute Justice."

It's what Akainu says to her when she comes back from razing a city of several hundred people to ashes, and she smiles cheerily up at him, ignoring the other Marines who recoil from her in horror.

"Of course not, Admiral."

Ritsu is well aware that there's probably something terribly skewed in her mind, judging from the way she can slaughter anyone she is told to or mutilate a corpse and still be perfectly fine with smiling and laughing the very next day. CP9 is what broke her, and her time with her dearest brothers is what fixed her –but some things can't be fixed, not completely. It's probably something in her mind, something broken that allows her to act the way she does.

She doesn't mind being broken, as long as she is still loved by the precious few that matter.

.

.

"Admiral?" the young woman asks out of the blue one day. "What's 'the people?'"

The older man raises an eyebrow at her, "Why do you ask?"

There's nothing accusatory in his tone, nothing demeaning.

"I've heard other Marines talk about it a lot… and in the beginning, when I asked them what 'Justice' is, they told me it was to 'protect the people.' I guess I'm kind of slow this way, since I don't understand it very well –I mean, we're all 'people,' aren't we? What specifies this special group of 'people' that we as Marines are meant to protect? If everyone is 'people,' just how is it that we decide who dies and who lives?"

There is a small pause in the office room as Akainu finishes perusing and signing the documents in his hand, and then the tall man stands to his feet.

"Walk with me, Vice Admiral."

Ritsu follows.

It is noon when they leave the office buildings of the Marines, and Admiral Akainu takes her down a few winding streets until they stand in the middle of the marketplace. Ritsu is rather baffled by it all –the Admiral suddenly asks her if she likes candied apples and she nods, and the smiling couple manning the stall hands them a bag of candied apples with linked hands. A group of children run across their path in the streets, shrieking with laughter as they chase and are chased, their wild happiness an almost tangible energy lingering in the air. They leave the marketplace and stroll down to the docks, where they stand in silence together as they watch a family of fishers exchange fishing tips with each other and chat idly about anything and everything.

It is sundown by the time they make their way back to their original offices, and by then Ritsu's mind is a dazed blur from walking around in the streets all day, occasionally stopping to chat with Marineford citizens–

"Do you understand now, Vice Admiral?"

Ritsu mulls over everything that Akainu has taken the time to show her today, biting into the last of her candied apples.

"When we say to protect 'the people,'" the Admiral begins, "We generally mean the civilian population."

Ritsu waits.

And waits.

And _waits._

"… What, you mean that's it? 'Civilian population?' That's all the others mean whenever they say 'the people?'"

"Hardly," Akainu rumbles in his deep voice. "When you asked me that question this morning, Vice Admiral, I could've simply responded with 'civilians' and left it at that. But then, what does the word 'civilians' mean to you? What is it about civilians that needs to be protected –that makes people _want_ to protect them?"

The cheerful couple at the candied apple stall, Ritsu thinks. A group of children playing in the streets. Fishermen peacefully fishing in their boats with each other. A dozen, a hundred more instances, each varying in their subjects and tasks, but… ultimately the same, at their very core.

They're happy, each and every one of them.

"The Marines are not a perfect system, but we are the only defense civilians have against the darker elements of this world," Akainu says. "If we are to protect them, then nothing short of Absolute Justice will be effective. If we show compassion, if we show mercy, that is _weakness_ that will only be abused and taken advantage of in the end."

Ritsu hesitates for a moment before asking her next question. "… But why do civilians matter?"

The Admiral does not immediately respond. "… Vice Admiral, why did you even join the Marines in the first place?"

She tilts her head.

"Grandfather," she says slowly. "In the beginning I… joined the Marines because of Grandfather. I think… I'm a very selfish person by nature, Admiral. I just wanted to be with Grandfather, and I wanted him to look at me. I… I wanted to be just like him to make him proud. So even though the adoptive siblings I grew up with chose different paths from me, I still persisted."

"And now?"

"Now, I think…" the young woman trails off in thought, before continuing. "… It doesn't matter. I think I just want try to do something _right._ Yet… the more I try, the more I seem to be slipping."

"Keep trying then, Ritsu," the Admiral turns back to his paperwork. "… From my perspective, you're doing a fine job so far."

.

.

It's not often that Ritsu takes a break from her work nowadays, bright and carefree as her personality is amongst the Marines –more than one people take a look at her and Admiral Akainu and start scratching their heads, wondering how two people so far apart in personality can get along so well; especially considering how it's an open secret in the Marines that Fleet Admiral Sengoku favors Aokiji above Akainu.

(It's only the divisions that serve directly under Admiral Akainu and Vice Admiral Ritsu that get an inkling of why they get along so well. After all, the two are clearly the most brutal, coldhearted monsters in the Marines, hands down –Ritsu just happens to be better at hiding this side of herself than Akainu in the public eye.)

"Ritsu! Wanna visit Luffy with me?"

"Wait for me, Grandpa Garp!"

Ennies Lobby. Ritsu hurriedly shoves aside the part of herself that would viciously tear apart any pirate brazen enough to openly declare war upon the World like this, and embraces the side that gleefully looks forward to seeing her dear little brother again.

Monkey D. Luffy.

.

.

"WHAT THE FUCK YOUR GRANDPA IS GARP THE HERO–"

"OH MY GOD YOUR SISTER IS A VICE ADMIRAL–"

_"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR FAMILY?!"_

.

.

Ritsu is in a good mood when she returns to Headquarters. She has found her path as a Vice Admiral of the Marines. Luffy has found himself a good crew, and even if things are more than a little crazy around the Straw Hats, she knows her little brother has a good heart, so she isn't _too_ worried.

But upon her return–

"Good news, Vice Admiral!"

"What is it, Koen?"

The blond smiles.

"Firefist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates has been captured and delivered to Headquarters by the new Shichibukai, Marshall D. Teach!"

_"… What?"_

.

.

When Grandpa Garp goes to visit Ace in Impel Down, she doesn't follow.

_He's your brother the very least you should do is go see him–_

_He's a pirate a criminal an agent of chaos to Justice in this world–_

_What does it matter; he is family, he is your brother!_

_In order to serve justice one has no need for the matters of the heart!_

_When did you become so heartless, Ritsu?_

_… I am Senritsu, granddaughter of Sengoku, blood of Justice. Ace knew what he was doing when he chose to become a pirate. He has already chosen his path –and I have chosen my own._

.

.

"Ritsu? You've been rather quiet these days. Is there something wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong with me, Grandfather." Ritsu smiles up at the Fleet Admiral. "I guess I'm just a little… worried. I mean, Portgas D. Ace is rather important to the Whitebeard Pirates, isn't he? Do you think they'll come for him?"

"Of course they will," the old man nods. "Whitebeard wouldn't be Whitebeard if he didn't come rushing to save one of his precious sons. Especially _this_ son."

"… Something special about Ace?"

"You could say that," Sengoku exhales a long sigh, and pats his granddaughter on the shoulder. "… You've been working hard, Ritsu. I've heard many things about you through the grapevine here."

The girl laughs, "Nothing too bad, I hope?"

"Hardly," the man shakes his head. "I was worried in the beginning about allowing your promotion to Vice Admiral, but… it appears that you're handling yourself well. Although, I do admit to being rather surprised that you get along well with Akainu."

"I get along well with Aokiji and Kizaru too, Grandfather. It's just more convenient to go to Akainu if I have any problems because his office is closer."

"Uh-huh," there's not one note of belief in old Sengoku's tone, and Ritsu grins unabashedly. It's nice, this banter with Grandfather. But even lighthearted banter cannot distract her mind from what awaits them tomorrow when the sun rises again. "… Ritsu, I have to ask you this. Garp told me he raised you in Foosha Village with Luffy. According to my sources, Luffy and Ace have both openly claimed each other as brothers. Have you ever–"

"You think too much, Grandfather." Her voice is dry. Ritsu folds her arms across her chest for emphasis, "No, I'm not involved with Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates any more than any other Marines are. If I was, don't you think I would've had the good sense to ask you to station me somewhere else other than the execution stage?"

The words are so, so _hard_ to force out in her mouth. They are lies, lies, _lies._ Ritsu. Ritsu doesn't want to do this, doesn't want to deny her connection to Ace, because Ace is her _brother_ and damn it all he deserves better than to be denied like this. But Ace is also a pirate sentenced to certain death and he is a criminal through and through and Absolute Justice declares that he must not be allowed to live.

For the good of 'the people.'

As for Ritsu…

Well.

Criminal or not, six years of her life had been spent growing up with him, and contrary to popular belief amongst the Marines that she commands in her division, her heart is not made from stone nor carved from ice. She hadn't gone to visit him in Impel Down, but Ritsu thinks the very least she can do before her brother dies is to see him again, and she can't do that if she's not close enough to the execution stage.

.

.

(The next day dawns bright and clear, and there is laughter on the wind.

Laughter, and the promise of blood.)

.

.

She cannot bring herself to meet his eyes.

Ritsu says nothing, head bowed, as Ace _–precious, precious Ace; my dear little brother–_ is roughly dragged onto the platform and forced into a kneeling position at the center of the stage. And suddenly, she is struck with a sharp, blinding panic as the light glinting off tall execution blades catches her eyes.

She doesn't know what to do.

She doesn't know what to do.

_She doesn't know what to do._

To cut loose a criminal slated for execution from these chains binding him to the execution stage –she will be betraying the code of Justice and all that she stands for as a Marine. She will be trampling upon the trust that she has painstakingly earned from Admiral Akainu, betraying the faith that Grandfather has placed in her, turning her back on the men she leads and her duty as a Vice Admiral.

On the other hand, to stay back and withdraw altogether –she will literally be watching Ace die right before her eyes; she will be letting her brother die without even a token effort made in his defense. She will be casting aside her promise to protect the elder of the brothers she loves, tearing to pieces the part of herself true to familial loyalty, killing what faint traces exist in the heart of her morality that runs parallel to the iron code she follows as a Marine, the only thin line differentiating her Justice from Akainu's.

If she does anything, she is a traitor to the Justice that she has sworn to serve and uphold for the sake of the World.

If she does nothing, she is a hypocrite who will not lift even a single hand to protect the ones she loves.

Three hours remain until the execution.

.

.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Ff.net.
> 
> The title of this story, a sky of glass –if you go on to complete the sentence, it would be something like: a sky of glass is meant to shatter. ;3 Matches the content of the story itself, no? Ritsu wants to be a good Marine and she wants to be a good sister to her pirate brothers as well, but obviously she can't have both.
> 
> Mostly, though, a sky of glass is meant to have a Marine!OC since I thought it would be interesting to write an OC as part of the Marines rather than the pirates. The SI part of it is simply because I wanted Ritsu to have a more mature mindset, rather than something like 'know the future and thus move to preserve/change the canon plotline.' Makes sense for the granddaughter of someone with an epithet of 'the Buddha,' right?
> 
> The story itself ends right before the battle between Whitebeard and the Marines. I dunno, it just seemed like the right spot to put down the pen and call things good? :D **[EDIT: I WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR TO EVERYONE THAT THIS STORY IS COMPLETE, PEOPLE.]**
> 
> Anyways, I hope I did a decent job portraying Ritsu's inner conflict between choosing Ace and choosing the Marines in that last section there. There's a lot of buildup to this beforehand with all the scenes including Ritsu's childhood with Luffy & co. as well as meeting Shanks, and then switching over to where she joins the Marines and learns of justice and what it means to fight for a concept as vague as 'the people' from someone like Akainu. The first half of the story is based on 'loving family as a sister,' while the second half is more 'embracing Justice as a Marine,' before the two worlds collide at the end.
> 
> (Sengoku kinda fades as the story goes on because he's important in her childhood, but as she grows up, more people start coming into her lives –and she has more than just her grandfather to fight for.)
> 
> Everything is rather messy since most of this was all written in one go. I'll probably have to revise it for grammar problems at some point.
> 
> Most of the narrative centers around Ritsu, seeing as she is the main focus of the story. I might write some more snippets containing other characters' POVs in regards to Ritsu, but if I ever do, it'll be a long time before they're out since I'm going to be really, really busy in the coming weeks. Starting tomorrow.
> 
> a sky of glass is honestly the longest one-shot I've ever written. Usually whenever I write something written in this format, it goes around 6k or 7k words, max –this one is about 14.5k words long in terms of total length.
> 
> **QUESTION: What decision do you suppose Ritsu makes in the end in regards to Ace's execution?**


End file.
